Speaking very little makes me exhausted. I had difficulty starting at 14 and became really disconnected to myself (think it was dissociative disorder followed by mood disorder). I could not put my thoughts together, # of thoughts would race in at the same time, my sentences would trail off all the time, etc. I'm not much better now (50) but socializing has always been like lifting weights to me. My mental energy just gets drained quickly (and I can't get this thru to family and PDOC really well which frustrates me).

I responded to paxil very well in '92 and felt more connected to myself and socializing became a little easier. When you don't have to think about organizing your thoughts all of the time then focusing and talking becomes so much easier. Tegretol actually helped me focus better on my thoughts when I tried to hold a conversation (but med made me so tired).